I have cruised on NCL many times and I have enjoyed myself and had a wonderful experience except this time. First and foremost the ship was too loud and I don't mean just because there was music or people talking but because the music was so loud in any common area where there was music playing you couldn't talk. One must shout! and then not be heard. The noise was over powering. It was almost a physical assault. I could live with that on the deck, or in one or two bars/lounges but this seemed to be wherever you went on the ship. The deck did not have enough lounge chairs and space for the almost 5,000 guests on board. Perhaps less water slides and more deck space is needed.

About the room. We were on the 13th floor. We had what they called a mini suite with a balcony. Lovely room however when you opened the balcony door we were assaulted with cigarette smoke from the one of two smoking areas on the ship to make matters worse this was also an outdoor bar area. This made for an uncomfortable time. We could not open the door nor could we enjoy the balcony due to the constant smoke and noise. We were not told about this when we booked our room. Certainly we would have picked another room and this was not a discounted room due to this inconvenience.

Then there is the spa. I love the spa. On any trip I have at least one or two treatment. And if available I always buy the thermal spa package so I can enjoy quite time. Never have I had a negative experience in the spa except on the Getaway. I paid $219.00 for a quite thermal spa, signs designate this area as a quite zone however it was anything but quite. The noise level was unbearable. When I complained the Assistant Spa Manager informed me there was nothing they could really do but would keep an eye on it and would speak to anyone making too much noise. I complained two days in a row about the noise. Asking when he planned on taking care of this issue. I was assured there were doing what they could. Which as it turned out was NOTHING! On the third day I realized that perhaps he didn't want to ask the guests making the noise to quite down because the complaint was coming from a straight female and the noise makers were gay males. I can't imagine that this is true but to be so completely dismissed, belittle, and ignored its hard not to find it at the least interesting. The spa also never offered to refund my money or make any type of compensation for the complete disregard of what I was told by the assistant manager were the 'well enforced rules of the thermal spa'. Read more